Fairytales
by know1knows
Summary: Preseries. A story in three parts. About the Winchesters. And fairytales. Once upon a time...
1. Chapter 1

Fairytales 

**Disclaimers:** All the standards…

Not mine.

Not making any money.

I just want to play with them for a while.

* * *

_Once upon a time…_

…A handsome young man named John had a chance encounter with a ravishing young woman named Mary. Her car had broken down as she was driving back to Lawrence after visiting her parents for the weekend. She had pulled the car over to the side of the highway and locked her doors. Although she tried several times, the car just wouldn't start again. So she sat in the car and watched the traffic go by, hoping that a police car would soon drive by and see her stranded there. But, as luck would have it, there were no police out on the highway that day. So, the pretty, young woman sat there wondering what she was going to. It was too far to walk into Lawrence and, besides, it just wasn't safe for a young woman to walk down a long, lonely stretch of highway all alone.

She stayed in the car and began to shiver slightly from the cold, when a black older-model car drove past and she saw the brake lights came on. The car stopped and moved over to the shoulder. She watched as the car backed up until it was only a few feet from the front of her car. A tall, dark, rather handsome, young man emerged from the car and approached her car. The young woman grew frightened for she was all alone and had never seen this man before. She checked all the doors to make sure they were locked and she glanced nervously up and down the highway.

The man came up to the driver's window and knocked gently on the window but the woman didn't acknowledge him. So he knocked again and asked her if she needed help.

"No thank you," she replied. "My boyfriend has gone for help and should be back soon."

But the man wouldn't be deterred and asked her to let him look under the hood.

"I'll be fine," she stated, not at all convincingly. "Please just go."

"I'm not going to leave you all alone on the side of the highway," answered the man, his voice full of concern. "Will you at least try to start the car for me?"

So the pretty young maiden reluctantly tried to start the car once again, but aside from spinning the engine a little bit, nothing happened.

"Just let me take a look under the hood," pleaded the concerned young man. And, sensing her fear of him, he added, "I can't get into the car from under the hood."

So the young woman begrudgingly popped the hood and she watched as the young man rummaged around for a few minutes. Then he poked his head around the side and told her to try to start the car again. When her efforts didn't even produce a minuscule amount of sputtering from the broken-down engine, the young man closed the hood and walked back to the window.

"Your timing belt's broken," he said. "You're going to need a tow truck."

"That's what my boyfriend said," replied the young woman, hoping to convince the stranger that she had known this all along. "He should be back soon with the tow truck."

The handsome young man nodded and looked up and down the highway. But he didn't see anyone coming back so he turned back to the young woman and stated, "Then I'll just wait here until he gets back"

The man went back to his car and the young woman watched him as he proceeded to lean against it, waiting for the non-existent boyfriend to return. As the young lady watched him, she pondered his motives. Perhaps, under different circumstances, she wouldn't be so scared of him. He was tall and very good-looking. He had warm brown eyes and a smooth comforting voice. If they had met somewhere else she probably wouldn't have any trouble engaging him in a conversation. But out here, in the middle of nowhere, with no one else around, he just scared her.

About ten minutes later the young man walked back to her car and told her that he was going to drive into Lawrence himself and come back with a tow truck. He didn't wait for an answer before he got back into his car and drove away. Although she was relieved to see him go, she was once again all alone on the side of the road and she realized that she had actually taken comfort in his presence. But now he was gone.

So she sat in her car and wondered what she was going to do. She had refused the only offer of help that had come by. And there didn't seem to be too many Good Samaritans out on the roads that day. Even the police didn't seem to be too concerned about this highway. She chastised herself for not asking him to call the police for her and she wondered what had happened to her brain that she hadn't thought of that before. But now he was long gone and she was still stranded on the side of the road.

Then she observed what looked like a tow truck coming down the road from the direction of Lawrence. She debated getting out of the car to flag it down but noticed that it seemed to be slowing down as it neared her location. Suddenly the rooftop lights flashed on and the tow truck pulled over. She watched as the driver completed a three-point turn and backed up to her car. The driver jumped out and she was surprised to discover that it was the same handsome young man who had stopped to help her earlier. Without a word, he attached her car to the tow truck but refrained from lifting it off its wheels before he came over to her window.

"You'll have to get out of the car now," he told her. "It's illegal to tow a vehicle with someone inside. You're going to have to sit in the cab of the truck."

_And that's how the beautiful damsel in distress from Lawrence, Kansas met her knight in shining armor... _

So the pretty young maiden named Mary got out of her car and hesitantly got into the cab of the tow truck. And, although she knew she didn't have any other options, she still wasn't sure she should trust this man. As they headed back into Lawrence, she sat as close to the door as she could, keeping her hand clenched tightly around the handle. If he made any moves that frightened her, she was ready to bolt from the truck and take her chances on the highway.

But he noticed how nervous she was and he tried to calm her nerves by telling her about himself. His name was John and the tow truck actually belonged to his father. He had just come back from an overseas stint with the Marines. He had his mechanics license and was currently working at his father's garage. He asked her if there was any garage in particular where she would like her car towed. She reluctantly told him that she really didn't know much about cars and didn't know any good garages either. So John offered to take the car to his father's garage. He probably had the parts he needed to fix the car at the garage and he could repair it right away.

But the pretty young woman was still leery of this seemingly kind young man named John and she was still afraid to wait alone with him at the garage while he fixed her car. So she hesitantly told him that she didn't have enough money to pay him for everything he had done for her already. Maybe it would be best if he just towed the car to her apartment building and she'd worry about having it fixed at a later date when she had some money.

But the handsome young man named John simply smiled at her. If she would just agree to let him buy her a cup of coffee and try not be too afraid to sit with him and drink it, that would be all the payment he would require.

_And that's how the courtship between the beautiful young damsel and the dashing young man began…_

For a while they dated sparingly; Mary was unsure whether she really wanted to commit to a relationship at this time in her life. She was in her final year of nursing at the university in Lawrence and wanted to concentrate on her schooling. So John backed off and tried to give her the space she needed. But it was obvious to everyone who knew them that he was happiest whenever he was with her. Her smile lit up a room and her eyes sparkled like diamonds whenever she laughed. He loved to watch her long blond hair blowing freely in the wind and he cherished every moment they were together.

For her part, Mary felt safe and secure with John. He was caring and thoughtful and he told her he loved her every day. He was constantly buying her flowers and little tokens of his affection and he said he loved children and wanted to be a father. But the thing she liked most about him was that he didn't pressure her into a relationship; he was just happy to spend any time at all with her. And she certainly couldn't deny that he made her feel special.

Mary graduated from university the following spring and got a job working in the maternity ward at the Lawrence Memorial Hospital. John continued to work in his father's garage, too wrapped up in his devotion to Mary to even think about re-joining the Marines. And when his father died of cancer later that year, John inherited the garage. Eighteen months after they first met, John finally worked up the courage to ask Mary to marry him.

They were married on Saturday September 24, 1977 in St. John Evangelist Church in Lawrence, Kansas. Mary looked radiant and elegant in her white pinafore-style dress with a scooped neckline and bishop sleeves. John wore a three-piece black suit and swore he had never been happier than on the day Mary agreed to marry him. They chose the soft-rock ballad "Just the Way You Are" by Billy Joel as their wedding song and they honeymooned in Jamaica for a week before they returned home.

_And so began their happily ever after…_

John and Mary bought a big, old house in the middle of Lawrence shortly after they married. It was run-down and in drastic need of repairs, but it was theirs. It was in a good section of town and was big enough to raise a family. They put all their spare time and money into renovating the house and in no time at all they soon it restored to at least some of its former glamour.

On January 24, 1979 Mary and John Winchester became parents to a beautiful little boy they named Dean. He had dirty blond hair and hazel eyes and everyone who met him for the first time fell instantly in love with him. He was precocious and outgoing and he kept his parents busy with all of his childhood antics. As he grew older, he loved to play with his father or go for rides in their 1967 Chevy Impala. John could tell that his son was fascinated by that car and he often dreamed of the day that he would pass it down to him.

But as much as Dean loved to spend time with his father, he cherished his mother above all else. All of their friends and relatives told them that he got that from his father because John had never wavered in his affection for Mary. And Dean seemed to be devoted to her in the same way. He loved to follow her around the house and he seemed to constantly crave her attention. All of Mary's friends told her she was so lucky to have two such devoted men in her live. And Mary did feel lucky - and loved. She felt that her life was almost perfect.

Mary, John and Dean did everything together as a family. They went on picnics, to parks and playgrounds and visited every museum they could find. Mary read to her son every night before he went to bed and John taught him to play baseball, football and soccer. He built him a huge play structure in the backyard. It had a swing and two slides along with monkey bars, a rope ladder and a fireman's pole. It was every little boy's dream come true and, if Dean wasn't tagging along somewhere with his parents, he could always be found playing in the backyard.

They were only missing one thing.

Another child.

When Mary gave birth to their second son on May 2nd, 1983, John was beside himself with joy. He and Dean ran out and bought the biggest, softest teddy bear they could find and took it with them when they visited Mary and the new baby in the hospital. It was so big that they had to sit it on the floor beside the basinet. They named the newest addition to the Winchester family Samuel after Mary's father but from the moment he was born they all called him Sammy.

Dean had been fascinated with his baby brother from the first time he saw him. He stared at him with wide wondering eyes. As he reached out to touch him, the baby grabbed his finger and squeezed it tightly.

Dean looked at his mother and declared, "He likes me for a big brother."

"I bet he does, Sweetheart," replied his mother and she smiled and asked him, "And what do you think of little Sammy?"

"I think he's the bestest little brother I could have. Thanks for giving him to me."

_And they lived happily for the next six months…_

Until the night that their lives changed forever. It had started out as just another ordinary day. John had gone to work at the garage. Mary had quit her job at the hospital before Sammy was born and now worked part-time at their pediatrician's office. She had been at work that day and had dropped the boys off at their sitter's house just down the street. She had picked them up just after 5:00 p.m. and had gone home to make supper and spend the evening with her family.

After dinner the four of them had gone for a walk to the park. Dean had found a friend to play with and Sammy had sat happily on his mother's lap watching the older children play. When they returned home, Mary gave Sammy a bath while Dean watched TV with his father. Mary joined them to give Sammy his bottle before she put him to bed. As she settled him into his crib for the night, Dean rushed in to say goodnight to his baby brother. John followed his son into the baby's room and jokingly asked Dean if he thought Sammy was ready to play ball with them.

Dean responded, "No, Daddy" with a little chuckle before Mary turned to John and asked him to put Dean to bed. John acknowledged her request and whispered goodnight to his youngest son before he took Dean to his bedroom.

Mary had been exhausted and had gone to bed early. John didn't want to disturb her so he stayed downstairs to watch television. He fell asleep watching the news and was rudely awakened by the sound of Mary screaming their youngest son's name. He dashed upstairs and into the baby's room but didn't see Mary anywhere. He walked over to his infant son's crib in time to witness a couple of blood droplets fall onto the mattress beside the baby's head.

John looked up and was shocked by the sight of his wife pinned to the ceiling. As he tried to make some sense out of the scene, flames suddenly burst out all around Mary's body. The fire seemed to leap out at him and he was afraid it was going to engulf both him and Sammy along with his beloved wife. Realizing he had to get Sammy out of the room, John snatched him out of the crib and ran into the hall where he met Dean, who had come out of his room wondering what was happening. John quickly handed the baby to Dean and told him to run outside as fast as he could. As Dean raced down the stairs, John tried to return to the baby's nursery to rescue his wife.

_But her knight in shining armor couldn't save her this time and John watched helplessly as his happily-ever-after incinerated before his eyes..._


	2. Chapter 2

_Once upon a time..._

There was a little boy named Dean Winchester. His parents doted on him and he, in turn, loved both of them. He was a bright and inquisitive little boy, getting into everything he could possibly get his hands on. He liked to play make-believe games in his backyard where he would often pretend he was a brave knight protecting the beautiful princess in the castle, who just happened to look very much like his mother as she went about her daily routine inside the house.

Sometimes, when little Sir Dean's father was busy working in the garage, he would let his son sit in the front seat of the family's 1967 Chevy Impala and pretend he was driving it. During those times, the young Master Winchester would forget all about the dragons and perilous adventures in his backyard and become the world's fastest racecar driver. And his father would smile and laugh as he watched his son spin the steering wheel madly around in circles while he made revving and roaring noises to enhance his imaginary story.

The year that Dean turned four was a special year. His parents signed him up to play t-ball and just before the season started, there was a new addition to the Winchester clan. Dean had wondered what was going on as his parents frantically worked away in the spare room, painting it and filling it with all kind of strange furniture that his father brought down from the attic. But, like every young boy, he had more important things to occupy his mind and he would soon forget about what his parents were doing. Then one day, his father rushed him to a neighbor's house across the street and just left him there. Dean watched from the neighbor's window as his father and mother got in the car and sped off down the street, away from him. He didn't understand it; his parents always took him with them wherever they went. Why were they suddenly leaving him with people he barely knew?

Dean threw himself on the floor and proceeded to have a very uncharacteristic temper-tantrum. Poor Mrs. Myers couldn't get him to stop - no matter how hard she coaxed or what she tried. Dean just cried and cried and cried until he finally exhausted himself and fell asleep on the floor. Mrs. Myers didn't want to risk waking him for fear of re-igniting his terror so she simply covered him with a blanket and left him on the floor. When Dean woke up just over an hour later, he ran to the window and looked out at his house across the street. But there was no sign of either his mother or father and Dean was sure that his parents had left for good and for some reason he was going to have to live with this new family. So, with tears in his eyes, Dean walked around the house until he found Mrs. Myers and he quietly asked her if she was going to be his new mommy.

Mrs Myers smiled at him before she embraced him in a monstrous hug. "No, Sweetie," she said, "Your Daddy will be back for you soon. And then you'll get to go see your Mommy at the hospital. They'll have a special surprise for you there."

Dean furrowed his little brow. If his parents had a surprise for him why didn't they just take him with them when they went? But, Mrs. Myers had said his father would be back soon to get him, so he ran back to the window to await his father's return. And when John drove up two and a half hours later, there's exactly where he found him. Dean jumped up and down when he saw their car pull into the driveway and watched his father get out. As soon as he heard the doorbell ring, Dean dashed to the front door, almost tripping over his shoes in his rush to get there. He could hardly wait for Mrs. Myers to open the door before he sprang into his father's arms.

"Whoa, Sport!" his father laughed as he swung him up to his shoulders.

"Where's my surprise, Daddy?" Dean asked excitedly. "Mrs. Myers said you have a surprise for me!"

"We sure do, Dean!" replied John as he ruffled his son's hair. "We're going back to see Mommy and your new baby brother at the hospital!"

Dean was confused. A new baby brother? Where did that come from? But he was excited about it anyway. They were going to see his mother and, now that his father was back, Dean had everything he wanted once again. And, if the only thing it took for him to have them both back was a new baby brother, then that was okay with Dean. On their way to see his mother and this new brother, his father stopped at a store and the two of them went in to buy the baby a new teddy bear. Dean found one that was bigger than he was and he convinced his father that it was just what a new baby needed. So they loaded it into the car and drove to the hospital.

When Dean walked into his mother's room, her face immediately lit up into an enchanting smile. Dean leapt onto her bed, giving her a great big bear hug. Then he asked her about this new brother and his mother pointed to a funny-looking see-through box that was sitting on a table beside her bed. Dean cautiously walked over to the little box and peered in at the little baby squirming and kicking inside it. The baby was wiggling all over the place and making the craziest noises he had ever heard. Still, Dean was curious so he put his hand into the box to carefully touch his new little brother. And when the baby grabbed his finger and pulled it toward him, Dean decided that this new baby brother was going to be okay because he already wanted to play with him.

As the summer months passed, Dean took to his new role as a big brother with pride and enthusiasm. It was obvious that he adored his little brother and he loved to get his storybooks and sit beside Sammy's crib and read the stories to him. And whenever he could, he told Sammy about all the fun they'd have when he got bigger and finally be able come out and play with him.

_But then in the blink of an eye, Dean's fairytale life changed forever..._

Dean had heard noises while he was lying in his bed one night; strange whispering that seemed to be beckoning him out of his room. And when he finally got out of his bed and wandered cautiously into the hallway, he came face to face with his father holding Sammy in his arms. As his father bent down towards him, Dean glanced quickly over his father's shoulder and saw his mother stuck to the ceiling in Sammy's room. And he thought he saw something else too: a sinister-looking man with glowing yellow eyes. But as quickly as he saw him, the man seemed to vanish into thin air and then his father had placed Sammy in his arms and Dean ran out of the house, away from the frightening scene.

After that Dean never saw his mother again. Daddy tried to explain that God had taken Mommy to live with him but Dean was pretty sure that the man he had seen in Sammy's room that night couldn't possibly have been God. He was far too scary. But Dean didn't question his father's belief because he quickly realized that it seemed to make Daddy feel better to think that Mommy had gone away with God. But Dean had seen the look on Mommy's face and he really didn't think she had wanted to go with him. And he was afraid that the scary man would come back for him – or worse – for Sammy. So every night after Mommy left, Dean climbed into Sammy's crib with him to ensure himself that Sammy was safe. And he was afraid to tell anyone about the man with the glowing yellow eyes, so he just stopped talking to everyone except his baby brother, telling him over and over again that he would always be there to protect him.

And after Mommy went away, they never again went back to their house. They lived with some of Daddy's friends instead. And Daddy stopped going to work. He started writing in this little brown book and started talking about strange things. Then one day, out of the blue, Daddy just packed them up and they left.

_And this time Dean's fairytale family consisted of himself, Sammy and his father..._

For a little while things went back to being somewhat normal. Dean started school and he made some new friends. Daddy even took him and Sammy to the park to play sometimes. Dean joined a soccer team and played for an entire summer with his brother and father coming to watch all his games. They moved into a little apartment and sometimes Dean even brought friends home to play. He liked to have his friends over but more often he found himself just wanting to be alone with his family. He liked to look after Sammy and teach him all the things he knew. He taught him to play baseball and kick the soccer ball around. Every night Dean read stories to his little brother just like Mom used to read to him. But his favorite part of spending time with Sammy was when the two of them would fall asleep in the big chair watching TV and Daddy would just cover them up and let them sleep there for the night. The chair had big over-stuffed arms and, with Sammy snuggled up close to him, Dean felt safe and secure sleeping in that chair; safer than he'd ever felt since before Mommy went away.

Daddy enrolled Dean in Tae Kwon Do classes. He told him it was so he could learn how to defend himself when he got bigger. And every night Daddy showed him other ways to fight and take care of himself. Dean enjoyed learning these skills and he soon forgot all about the imaginary dragons and monsters that he used to battle in his old backyard. Instead, he pretended that he was fighting the man with the glowing yellow eyes who had taken Mommy away. Dean poured all his energies into learning how to be a skilled warrior just in case that man ever came back and tried to take Sammy away from him. Because there was absolutely no way that Dean was ever going to let that happen.

Just before Dean turned eight, his father sat him down one night and told him that there were things out there that were capable of hurting him. Things that most people didn't even believe existed. But his father assured him that they did, because he had killed many of them himself. He told Dean about ghosts and spirits and the numerous other kinds of monsters and demons that roamed the earth trying to hurt and kill people. But his father's revelations didn't scare Dean because he had already determined on his own that there were things out there that defied explanation. He believed that because he had never forgotten what he had witnessed the night that his mother had been killed and he knew that the man he had seen could not possibly be human. But he had never considered that his father felt the same way and was a little bit taken aback when he told him that he believed something supernatural had killed Mom.

Dean had just looked his father squarely in the eye and replied stoically, "I know. I saw it that night too."

If his confession had shocked his father, Dean never knew because his only response had been, "Then you understand the kinds of things that I go out and hunt every night."

Dean nodded and point-blankly asked, "When will I be old enough to hunt with you?"

His father promised him that sometime within that year he would take him on a hunt. He wanted him to learn how to accurately shoot both a gun and a crossbow first. And he wanted him bone up his fighting skills too; it was very dangerous on a hunt and he had to make sure that Dean could protect himself before he took him with him. Dean wanted to know whether his father had found the thing that had taken his mother away, but his father only shook his head sadly and stared down at the floor.

"I'm still looking for it," was all he said before he looked up at his son and stated firmly, "But I won't stop until I kill it."

"Neither will I," replied Dean with sheer determination.

It was at that moment when Dean came face to face with his destiny. He knew what he was going to do with his life. And he now knew how he was going to accomplish it. He was going to help his father avenge his mother's death and he was going to make sure that nothing ever came to harm his family again.

_And as Dean opened that door into his perilous future, his childhood slipped unnoticed out the window. And whatever had remained of his fairytale life disappeared along with it..._


	3. Chapter 3

_Once upon a time…_

A little boy named Sam Winchester lost his mother when he was only six months old. And, although he never knew her, his father and older brother made sure that he knew "of" her. They spoke of his mother almost constantly, telling Sam what a marvelous woman she had been; how she had loved them all without question and how she had been tragically taken away from them all on a cold November night in 1983.

So it came to pass that, as Sam grew older, he actually believed that he had known this long departed, awe-inspiring woman. And in his mind, this wondrous woman became everything that a motherless child would have wanted in a mother. He could often be found just sitting in a chair, staring at a faded picture with burnt edges of a family that he had never really known: a smiling, happy father holding a light-haired, impish, pre-school boy on his lap and a beautiful blond woman lovingly cradling a tiny, dark-haired baby.

Sammy, as both his older brother and father called him, knew all too-well who the man, the boy and the baby were. But it was the woman who fascinated him the most. Her bright, angelic smile seemed to light up the picture all on its own and it was her presence that seemed to bind them all together. And he wondered how she could have ever left them if her very existence was so crucial to their survival.

But, as young children often do, Sammy would put this mysterious mother-angel out of his mind as he went about the process of growing up. And there were always plenty of other things to occupy his increasingly, insatiable mind. It seemed to him that they were constantly calling a different town or city home. With a new home came new adventures, new places to discover and new people to meet. And Sam never tired of those things no matter how often they surfaced in his life. He relished the opportunity to learn about anything new and exciting, hoping to find out as much about the world around him as he could.

Of course, there was always his older brother to shield him from anything painful. It was Dean who Sammy ran to when he skinned his knees or fell off his bike. If a bully was picking on him, Sam could always count on Dean to be there to protect him and make sure it didn't happen again. And Dean was never far away when he awoke from a nightmare or did something that displeased his father. Dean wasn't like most of his friend's bigger brothers. Dean actually liked to spend time with him and he was always willing to answer all of Sammy's questions. Dean never - or almost never - called him a brat or told him he was spoiled-rotten. On the contrary, it was Dad who often told Dean to stop coddling him. But Dean didn't seem to listen to his father too much, at least where Sammy was concerned. Dean's unyielding devotion to him made Sam feel safe and secure; his unconditional love providing Sam with a strong sense of belonging. And because of this, Sam seldom missed the mother he never knew.

_Like most children, he was hesitant to see the abnormalities that set his family apart from others and so he viewed his life through rose-colored glasses, adapting it to fit the classic fairytale…_

Sam was no different than any other boy his age; he enjoyed rough-housing and wrestling with both his father and older brother. Sam learned early on that this type of activity wasn't just for fun and sometimes he wondered why his father seemed to take it all so seriously. It was like it was a requirement that he learn how to fight if he was going to be a member of this family. Every night after supper, Dad would make him wrestle with Dean, giving pointers and criticisms as he saw fit. And it wasn't until he was almost nine that Sammy actually got the upper hand against his brother one night. And even though he had successfully pinned his brother to the floor and warded off most of his blows, his father had seemed to be extremely upset when it was all over. He had gotten up and left the room without so much as one word to either of them.

As usual, Dean had been right there telling Sam how proud he was of him and what a good fighter he was turning into. He rattled on and on about how exceptional it was for Sam to have beaten him in an honest-to-goodness-old-fashioned-wrestling match. And Sam had been proud of himself and consoled himself with the fact that Dean was too.

But later that night, when Sam had gone to bed, he overheard his father talking sternly to Dean. He heard his father tell Dean that he was wrong to back off and let Sammy win, that he would never be good enough if Dean kept doing that. And Dean had responded that Sammy would just get discouraged if he never won, that he'd stop trying if he felt that he could never beat him. It just wasn't fair to expect an eight-year-old to be able to fight a twelve-year-old. But Dad had torn a strip off him, insisting that there were bigger things than a twelve-year-old that he would have to worry about soon. And then he had sent Dean to bed. Sam had remained quiet as Dean entered their room and slowly got ready for bed. But as Dean crawled under the covers Sam turned towards him.

"Dean?" he asked timidly.

"Just go to sleep Sammy," came Dean's heartbroken response.

Sam had lain awake for most of the night and although he sensed that Dean was also not sleeping, he refrained from speaking to him again. Sam couldn't get his mind around some of the things his father had said. What type of bigger things was he soon going to have to worry about? Why was it so important that he be able to wrestle and fight with his brother? What secrets weren't they telling him? But Sam had no way of knowing because, for the first time in his life, Dean had made it clear that he wasn't going to answer any of Sam's questions.

_And that became the first crack in the fairytale…_

From that day forward, Sam noticed little things that had failed to get his attention before. He noticed the strange symbols and drawings that always seemed to be everywhere they lived. He noticed the salt that his father scattered around doorways and under windows. He noticed the guns, knives and other weapons that his father was constantly buying and maintaining. He noticed the large hunting knife that his father gave Dean for his 13th birthday. And he noticed that his brother always kept that knife tucked under his pillow. Sam also noticed that his father went out somewhere almost every night with an armful of different weapons. But before he left, he would both run around the apartment or motel, wherever they happened to be staying at the time, and check the drawings, the symbols and the salt to make sure that there were no breaks in the lines that would allow something evil to slip inside.

And then one night when his father had taken them for a drive and Sammy had fallen asleep in the backseat as he was apt to do, he woke up unexpectedly to discover that he was all alone in the car. The car was pulled over on the side of the road and Sam could see that someone had drawn symbols on every window. When he looked out the window at the ground, he saw a circle of salt surrounding the car. How many times had he fallen asleep in the car just to be left alone like this? What did all these symbols and drawings mean? And what was the salt for? Why did it all seem to have such an important meaning in their lives? Not that he had any idea what that meaning was.

It was the detection of all these little oddities that caused nine-year-old Sammy's safe little world to slowly unravel. He tried to ask to Dean about it but all his brother would say was that he wasn't ready yet. And then he would add that he hoped Sammy would never be ready. But he wouldn't explain what he meant. No matter how hard Sam pestered him. And Sam was afraid to ask his father because he knew that his father would tell him everything and Sam was pretty sure he really didn't want to know everything. He just wanted to know enough to calm his fears and stop his nightmares.

But without sufficient knowledge of what it all meant, his nightmares only increased which resulted in an escalation of his fears too. His nightmares and qualms intensified until finally Sammy was afraid of everything. When he voiced his fears to Dean, his brother just told him not to worry because he was there to protect him. He didn't tell him not to be afraid or that his fears were groundless like Sam had expected; he just told him that he would always be there to watch over him. So Sammy finally worked up the courage to speak to his father and he hesitantly told him that he thought there was something in his closet and it was making him afraid. And his father gave him a gun. And he told him to shoot anything that came out of his closet.

_And another page of the fairytale was violently ripped out of the storybook…_

Sammy's fear almost paralyzed him and it wasn't long before Dean sat down with him and explained everything that he had wanted to know for the past year. It wasn't easy for Sam to learn that most of his fears were well-founded but at least he was finally able to separate the nightmares from reality. Although he had to admit that there wasn't much of a difference. But Dean had stayed with him as he tried to get his mind around all this new and horrible information. And Dean had enthralled him with stories of his own encounters with some of these beings, making it sound more like an science-fiction adventure than real-life and Sam found he wasn't nearly as scared as he had been before.

Until his father decided just after he turned ten that he should accompany them on a hunt.

Then Sammy became terror-stricken once again. But Dean was there to tell him that he would be right beside him and he had nothing to worry about, that he would never let anything happen to him. It was a promise that he intended to keep until the day he died. And Sam's fears subsided because he knew that Dean meant what he said and he would be protected as long as his brother was around. That night they loaded up the car with so many weapons and gadgets that Sammy found his heart was pounding in his ears just from the sight of them.

Sam knew that Dean was keeping a close eye on him from that moment on, even opting out of sitting shot-gun in the car in favor of sitting beside him in the backseat. Although, he never voiced his displeasure, Sam knew his father didn't approve by the way he kept glancing at them in the rearview mirror. And Dean was carefully not to raise his father's ire while, at the same time, managing to help Sammy control his uneasiness by just being close to him. It was the same comfort Sam had always felt by having his brother close by and he knew he probably needed it now more than he ever had before.

When they arrived at their destination, his father handed him a pistol. He told Sam there was a silver bullet in the chamber that would kill the beast if he shot it. But he was only to use the gun if he felt his life was in danger. His father set him up on the edge of the forest and told him to wait there. He and Dean were going into the forest to find the creature. They would kill it there before it even had a chance to get anywhere near Sam.

Dean grinned at him before he followed his father into the forest and Sam heard him mumble something about pretending he was John Wayne if he saw the creature coming out of the woods. But before Sam could figure out what he was talking about, both his father and brother disappeared into the dense vegetation and Sam found himself alone. His eyes darted back and forth taking in every movement he saw. Sam was afraid that the creature they were hunting would know that he was alone and it would come for him but he was also terrified that he might shoot the gun at either his father or brother when they re-emerged from the forest. And he didn't know which thought terrified him the most.

So Sam sat stock-still, petrified of moving. Afraid that he would either attract the attention of the creature or inadvertently kill his brother or father. His anxiety level was so high that he failed to notice the pair of luminescent eyes watching him from only a short distance away. Without warning, the creature jumped on top of him, knocking him to the ground. Sam was gripping the pistol so tightly that he didn't drop it as he tumbled to the ground with the creature on top of him. But he was also paralyzed with fear. He had never seen anything like this creature; it looked like a lion with a human head. But it was the teeth that horrified Sam. There were three rows of razor-sharp incisors and they dripped a combination of blood and saliva when it opened its mouth just inches from Sam's face. Sam was unable to move as he stared into the creature's mouth and he dreaded being ripped apart by this monster.

Then, as suddenly as the creature had attacked him, something whizzed past him and knocked the creature off him. Sam scrambled out of the way before he saw Dean charge the beast and land on top of it. It was then that Sam saw the arrow protruding from the creature's body and he knew that Dean had shot it with his crossbow. But the arrow hadn't killed the creature and it was now engaged in a physical confrontation with Dean. Sam watched helplessly while the creature rapidly gained the upper hand on his brother until his father abruptly emerged from the shadows and grabbed Dean by the back of his shirt collar. In one fluid movement, he lifted Dean off the creature and tossed him toward Sammy. Then he fired his weapon at the monstrous beast. The bullet hit the creature squarely in the chest, killing it instantly.

As Dean picked himself up off the ground, Sammy crawled over to him and nestled himself in his arms. Sam stared forlornly at the lifeless creature on the ground and he couldn't help but think that the bullet that killed it had probably been the last remnant of his shattered childhood for it had been forged from the melted-down remains of his baby spoon. And as he shivered in his brother's comforting embrace, Sam realized that Dean was probably his only safety net that remained intact.

_And although, years later, Sam would find himself striving to find his own happily-ever-after…_

_None of the Winchesters…_

_Ever again…_

_Believed in fairytales._


End file.
